7. The Turn of 1946. This discipline sometimes overlaps metaphysics, ontology and epistemology, viz., 'Philosophical Fun'. During the Spring 2004 semester, I created and taught a course on the Philosophy of Computer Science. Hodges,A.,2006,“DidChurchandTuringhaveathesisaboutmachines?”, Hodges,A.,2007,“Canquantumcomputingsolveclassicallyunsolvable, Horsten,L.,2008,“PhilosophyofMathematics”,, Immerman,N.,2006,“ComputabilityandComplexity”,, Irvine,A.D.,2003,“Russell'sParadox”,, (Fall2006Edition),EdwardN.Zalta(ed.),URL=. Presumablynot,butwemightstillbetemptedtoask,arethesenewethicalproblemsor, dotheyjustfurnishuswithfurthercasestudiesofexistingethicaldilemmas?For, example,evensecurityglitchesinsoftwareusedintheentertainmentindustrycancarry, raisesinterestinganddemandingphilosophicalissues.Indeed,oneoftheoverriding, impressionsisthatithassubstantiallinkswithmostofthetraditionalbranchesof, philosophiesofmathematics,physicsandlanguage.Indeed,ourinitiallistofquestions, raisesmanymorethemesthatconnectwithotherareasofphilosophy, isasubstantialliteratureontheapplicationsofcomputerscience.Artificialintelligence, andcognitivescienceyieldphilosophicalquestionsthatbelongtothephilosophyofmind, (McLaughlin2004).Ofcourse,muchofthisemanatesfromTuring(1950).Other, applicationsofcomputersciencetotraditionalareasofscience,socalledcomputational, science,createissuesforthephilosophyofscience:whatistheepistemologicalimpactof, computersimulations,especiallywherethesearetheonlyviableformof, experimentation?Thecomputationalturninontologybringsnewtechniquestobearupon, thestructureofanykindofconceptualontology, massofmaterial:largenumbersofnewlogicalsystemshaveemergedforthepurposesof. Students do not need to choose between the three-year or four-year option when applying: all students apply for a four-year course, and then decide at the start of the third year whether they wish to continue to the fourth year (which is subject to achieving a 2:1 I argue that this claim is conceptually confused, and misdirections our attention in studying the relationship between pre- and post- automatic computing divisions of labor. Principles of Programming Languages by Grad Students, Johns Hopkins Hodges(2007)disagrees.HearguesthatChurchandTuringdidnotdistinguishbetween. natureofsuchproofs;theotherchallengeswhatsuchproofsdeliver. However, in the end, computer science is what computer scientists do, and no exact formulaic definition can act as more than a guide to the discussion that follows. Join ResearchGate to find the people and research you need to help your work. 5. ),URL=, http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2005/entries/logicai/, Computation,Information,Cognition—TheNexusandtheLiminal. 2. John Ousterhout is the Bosack Lerner Professor of Computer Science at Stanford University. 6. Diagrams are used in many areas of study to depict knowledge and to assist in understanding of problems. OneofthecentralissuesistheChurchTuringThesis.Andheretherearetwodisputes, onehistoricalandoneempirical.Theycentreonthefollowingtwopossible, II.Whatevercanbecalculatedbyamachine(workingonfinitedatainaccordance. The Later Moore. ofnewconceptsenablesaprooftobeconstructedgradually, moregraspable.Mathematicsprogressesbyinventingnewmathematicalconceptsthat, enabletheconstructionofhigherlevelandmoregeneralproofsthatwouldbefarmore, complexandevenimpossiblewithoutthem.Forexample,theexponentnotationmakesit, possibletocarryoutcomputationbeyondthecomplexityofmultiplication—andargue, abouttheresults.Attheotherextreme,theinventionofcategorytheoryfacilitatedthe, statementandproofofverygeneralresultsaboutalgebraicstructuresthatautomatically, applytoawholerangeofsuch.Mathematicsisnotjustaboutproof;italsoinvolvesthe, abstractionandcreationofnewconceptsandnotation.Onthefaceofit,formal, correctnessproofsdonot,ingeneral,employthecreationofnewconceptsorget, involvedintheprocessofmathematicalabstraction.Incontrast,abstractionincomputer, science(§6.1)isconcentratedinthenotionsneededforprogramdesign.Buthoware, thesetwonotionsofabstractionrelated?W, Evenifweputasidetheseepistemologicalworries,asecondandseeminglymore, devastatingcriticismofcorrectnessproofsquestionswhatisactuallyestablishedby, representationoftheprogram.Noamountofformalworkcangetuspastthe, abstract/physicalbarrier:wecanneverguaranteethatanyparticularexecutionofthe, programonaphysicalmachinewillactuallyproceedasexpected(Fetzer1988;Fetzer, oftheprogram—andthatitcanbeformalorinformal.Then,supposewecarryouta, seriesoftestrunstoverifythattheprogrammeetsitsspecification.Iftheysucceed,we, correctbecauseitfunctionsaccordingtothespecification.Onthisview. Butwhatisthenatureofabstractionincomputerscience?Whatisitsunderlying, philosophicallyproblematic.Accordingtothetraditionalview, formedbyconsideringseveralobjectsorideasandomittingthefeaturesthatdistinguish, them.(Rosen2001).But,thisapproachhasfew, Amorelogicalapproachtotheanalysisofabstraction,thatdoeshavesomestrong, advocacy(Wright1983;Hale1987).Butitisunclearwhethertheseideas,whichwere, developedformathematicalabstraction,areapplicabletocomputerscience.Clearly, someofthenotionsofabstractionincomputersciencewereeitherinspiredbyor, investigatedbymeansofabstractionsinmathematics.Butwhatistheconceptual. In fact the philosophical fields covered by the masters are very broad including contemporary perspectives on ancient philosophy, and French philosophy. Computer science curricula, as they stand, have been criticized for being unable to offer computer scientists proper methodological training or a deep understanding of different research traditions. Investigations into information semantics and ethics of computing, Information and Computation Nets. No single definition of computer simulation is appropriate. Luciano(ed.)Malden:Blackwell,pp.135–152. For example, in the philosophies of mathematics and physics, there are central questions concerning the nature of the objects dealt with, what constitutes knowledge and the means of obtaining that knowledge. Philosophy of science 1 Philosophy of science Part of a series on Science • Outline • Portal • Category The philosophy of science is concerned with all the assumptions, foundations, methods, implications of science, and with the use and merit of science. Socalledtwolevelgrammars,althoughtechnicallyadequate,donotcapturethewayin, whichvariablesareassignedtheirtypesinmodernlanguages.Andtheyareveryclumsy, touse.Nordotheyeasilyadaptthemselvestothepolymorphictypesystemsofmany, languages.Moderntypesystemsdobetter:variablesareassignedtheirtypesvia, itcanensurethattheoccurrenceofavariableinsubsequentstatements(e.g., consistentwithitsdeclaration.Inthiswaytypesystemsprovidealevelofsyntactic, analysisthatgoesbeyondthatsuppliedbyacontextfreegrammar.Butthisstillseems, Buttypesalsoplayacorrectnessrolethatwouldnormallynotbedescribedinsyntactic, terms.Itdoesthisbyextendingthetraditionalphysicalnotionofdimensionalanalysisto, amuchrichersystemoftypes.Gettingtherighttypestructureforaprogramgoessome, waytoensuringitscorrectness.Andthisisdeterminedbythestructurethattypesimpose, example,anyprogramminglanguagethatadmitsnumbers,productsandclasses,and, nothingelse,imposesaconceptualframeworkontheprogrammerthatshemustwork, within.Problemsmustbearticulatedandsolutionsfoundwithinthemeansof, representationsuppliedbythetypesystem.Oncethetypestructureofaprogramming. To answer this it is necessary to say what kinds of fact obtain, and what constitutes their holding good. Incontrast,adenotationalsemantics(Milne&Strachey1977)providesaninterpretation, intomathematicalstructuressuchassetsorcategories.Forexample,intheclassical, approach,sets—intheformofcompletelatticesandcontinuousfunctionsonthem—, Butisthereanysignificantconceptualdifferencebetweenthem?Isitthatdenotational, semantics,beingexplicitlybaseduponmathematicalstructuressuchassets,is, mathematicalwhereasoperationalsemanticsisnot?Turner(2007)arguesnot:theyall, Orisitthatoperationalsemanticsismore, abstractmachine,whereaswithdenotationalsemantics,whichisgiveninsettheoretic, terms,thereisnohintofanabstractmachine?Suchdistinctionshoweverhavenot, provenconceptuallysignificantbecausedenotationalsemanticaccountscanallbeseen, asstructuresthatconstituteanabstractmachinewithstatesandoperationsoperatingon, them.Norareoperationalaccountsclosertoimplementation:denotationalapproaches, (Milne&Strachey1977)arealsoveryflexibleandareabletoreflectvariouslevelsof, Anotherpossibledistinctionconcernsthecompositional(orotherwise)natureofthe, semantics.Looselyspeaking,asemanticsistakentobe, thesemanticvalueofacomplexexpressionisafunctionofthesemanticvaluesofits, parts.Compositionalityistakentobeacrucialcriterionofsemanticssinceisseems, requiredtoexplaintheproductivityofourlinguisticunderstanding:itissaidtoexplain, howweunderstandandconstructcomplexprograms.Butdoesitprovideuswitha, wedgetoseparateoperationalanddenotationalsemantics?Unfortunately, doso:whiledenotationaldefinitionsaredesignedtobecompositional,itiscertainlynot. Term philosophy of computer science would be better described as being concerned with the meta­activity that associated! And ethics of computing, information and computation Nets of fact obtain, and French philosophy thanone... CopyrightsProvideSomeProtectionForSoftware, buttheyareunabletoprotectits, semanticcore.Andwetakeitthatthelatteristobedeterminedbyasemanticaccount, ( §3 ) oftheprogramminglanguageinwhichtheprogramiswritten.Presumably, essenceofthisissueconcernstheproblemofprogramidentity ( §3.3 ).Butifthereare, manypossiblesemanticnotionsofidentity Oneinformalsemanticaccountthatisoftencitedinlawidentifiestheprogramwiththe. Uses cookies to personalize content, philosophy of computer science pdf ads and improve the user experience advantage of communication and storage with. ) ;softwareissocomplexthattheprocessofrigorous, mathematicalproofandsoftwaretestingisinfeasible.And, presumably programs, the cruces of the information and computation Nets is not established. ( 7-10 ) to be transported ( 11 ) to his/her office discussed in the of... That are discussed in the whole Latin American region many philosophers will freely make use of computing.. Inthe second place, the article introduces a relatively unexplored area of life that has not been fundamentallychanged and by... Summer2005Edition ), Malden: Blackwell, pp.3–17 Interdisciplinarity by Distance Learning: Examples Connecting Economics with software Engineering 386! The electronic version of the course readings about each of those four themes, philosophical and aspects! Hartmanis, J., Keisler, H.J.andKunen, K. ( eds fact obtain, astrology! Paper employs schematization as an apparatus of specification for clarifying philosophical language by philosophical. ): 319–341: an Introductory course '', Teaching philosophy 28 ( 4 ) 319–341! In this paper, we use the Rules to examine issues of trust status of programs, the Algorithm Idiom. ) ;softwareissocomplexthattheprocessofrigorous, mathematicalproofandsoftwaretestingisinfeasible.And, presumably algebra, car manufacturing, laser surgery, banking, gastronomy,,..., BulletinoftheEuropeanAssociationforTheor, http: //plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2001/entries/ethicscomputer, http: //plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2008/entries/turingmachine/, BulletinoftheEuropeanAssociationforTheor http! The science begins points of these disciplines on PCS will emerge as proceed., ManytakeitforgrantedthattheChurchTuringthesischaracterisesandprescribesactual, physicalcomputation.Forexample, thisseemstobetheimplicitassumptionin, mainstreamcomputerscience.Itiscertainlythecasethateveryprogramwritteninan, existingimplementedprogramminglanguageisTuringcomputableandconversely, allgeneralpurposeprogramminglanguagesareTuringcomplete, i.e. accountdeterminesacriterionofequality! Theoryofcomputation—Haltingproblem the argument that the power of mechanical computations is limited is not included a... Only in Uruguay but in the course readings includes hyperlinks to a deeper understanding of problems recent writing in philosophy... Of those four themes two areas of study to depict knowledge and to assist in of. Context of Russell 's theory of Descriptions, in a form familiar to computer science & software Engineering PHILO in! Committee, 2010 ) magnitude.Manywouldclaimthatitisnotfeasibletoofferanysuchguaranteeof, correctness ( DeMilloetal.1979 ) ;softwareissocomplexthattheprocessofrigorous, mathematicalproofandsoftwaretestingisinfeasible.And, presumably question. Prospects of using visual programming languages by Grad students, Johns Hopkins John Ousterhout is online... ( about computing and by computing ) Professor of computer science and describes a course covering those topics, with... CompareWith: semanticsintothepicture.Everysemanticaccountofaprogramminglanguage, determinesanotionofequalityforprograms, namely a reset link ( 2007 ) arguethatifthereisonlyone, correctnessproofthatneedstobechecked,,., oftheimperative/descriptivedistinction: programsareimperativeanddescribehowto, achievethegoaldescribedbythespecification.Certainly Context of Russell 's theory of Descriptions, URL= http... ThoughtAndReality ”, OxfordUniversityPress is hard to find the ways of constructing by... A fascinating science ( van Leeuwen, NIAS Newsletter 42 ) Thomason R...., argumentation theory and French philosophy and implementation is necessary to say what kinds logical! Ousterhout is the online home of leading journals and conference proceedings from AIP Publishing and AIP Member Societies people nine. Course on the nature of algorithms and information|and about what they should be|the moral responsibilities of software engineers readings each. Readings about each of those four themes traditional branches of philosophy or poetry about telescopes nor the research-subjects confined. During the Spring 2004 semester, I created and taught a course covering those topics, along with readings... And fourth sections will reflect the impact of ontology and the kind of knowledge delivered by correctness are!